''The Best of John Wyndham'' is a paperback collection of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
short stories by
John Wyndham
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names ...
, published after his death by
Sphere Books
Sphere Books is the name of two British paperback publishers.
History
The original Sphere Books was launched in 1966 by Thomson Corporation. Sphere was sold to Pearson PLC in 1985 and became part of Penguin. The name was retired in 1990.
In 19 ...
, first in 1973.
Michael Joseph Limited has published the book as a hardcover under the title ''The Man from Beyond and Other Stories'' in 1975. For the 1977 Sphere paperback edition it was split into two parts, both containing the full bibliography and the introduction by
Leslie Flood.
Contents
*''The Best of John Wyndham 1932-1949'' ()
** "The Lost Machine" (1932)
** "The Man from Beyond" (1934)
**"The Perfect Creature" (1937)
**"The Trojan Beam" (1939)
**"Vengeance by Proxy" (1940)
**"Adaptation (1949)
*''The Best of John Wyndham 1951-1960'' ()
**"Pawley's Peepholes" (1951)
**"The Red Stuff" (1951)
**"And the Walls Came Tumbling Down" (1951)
**"Dumb Martian" (1952)
**"Close Behind Him" (1952)
**"The Emptiness of Space" (1960)
Plots
* "The Lost Machine" is the posthumous history of an artificial intelligence's experiences on the barbaric planet Earth in the primitive times of the early 20th Century. This story is directly related to Wyndham's 1936 novel,
Planet Plane, in which some of the elements of this story are outlined by the character, Joan.
* "The Man From Beyond" sees a human desperately attempting to convince the people of Venus to have nothing to do with their neighbours in space as they are without hope of redemption.
* "The Perfect Creature" has also been published as "Una" in ''
Jizzle Jizzle may refer to:
* Jizzle (artist)
Jerreh Jallow (born 14 August 1994), proffesionaly known as Jizzle) is a Gambian Afro-pop artist. He won the artist of the year award at the Whasahalat Music Awards in 2018. He has also been nominated for ...
'' and tells the story of a scientist's attempts to create the 'perfect' creature, and what happens when he gets the hormone balance wrong.
* "The Trojan Beam" sees a British secret agent used as a go-between with the warring states of China and Japan and sees the Trojan Beam used to alter the balance of power.
* "Vengeance by Proxy" is a horror story updating the vampire myth to modern Eastern Europe and pastiching the story telling form of
Bram Stoker
Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...
's ''
Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
''.
* ''Adaption'' dramatises the need for life to be adapted to the world in which it grows on as a father searches desperately for his long lost daughter.
* "Pawley's Peepholes" sees time travelers from the future disrupting small-town life by treating it as a quaint place to sight see.
* "The Red Stuff" is a mysterious, fast growing entity that first consumes a meteorite, then an entire space ship and ends up on a moon base.
* "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down" is the report of a silicone based life form experiencing hostility on Earth.
* "Dumb Martian" tells of a Human and his Martian 'wife' out deep in space, far away from civilisation and the man's slow descent into brutality and madness.
* "Close Behind Him" is a horror story about a burglar who becomes convinced that the spirit of a man killed during a break in is coming ever closer behind him.
* "The Emptiness of Space" is a story of the Troon family as seen in ''The Outward Urge''. In New Caledonia, 2194, an astronaut suffers the after effects of the urge to travel in space and fears he has lost his soul.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Best of John Wyndham, The
1973 short story collections
Short story collections by John Wyndham
Books published posthumously
Sphere Books books